Guests - Ava Chen, Steve Bannon

Remembering Charlie Kirk: America at a Turning Point

A Conversation with Ava Chen and Steve Bannon

The assassination of Charlie Kirk has brought America to a critical moment in its fight to defend the nation. The embodiment of American values has been murdered in the public square—a young man of faith, family, and courage who stood for traditional American ideals.

Charlie Kirk saw what was happening in America long before others did. At just 31 years old, he had already spent 13 years building Turning Point USA, an organization dedicated to engaging young conservatives on college campuses across the nation. He understood that America was being taken in a dark direction and chose to act while many others who noticed the same pattern did nothing.

"Charlie Kirk saw something that was impossible at the time," explains Steve Bannon, who joined the conversation. "He actually made the pitch that we're going to do this on college campuses. Nobody had gotten the scale to actually turn it, and Charlie had a vision of how to do that by going to the worst of the worst, where it's embedded the most, and be the most aggressive."

What made Charlie unique was his willingness to engage with those who disagreed with him. He didn't smash people down—he built them up, even those who opposed his views. He put his microphone down when others were speaking and truly listened. His debates were open, conducted in front of live audiences, always seeking intellectual stimulation rather than confrontation.

"He was willing to talk to anybody," Kathleen Winn explains. "He didn't care if you didn't agree with him—he actually enjoyed that more."

Bannon emphasized the scale of Charlie's achievement: "It's one thing to have a vision; it's another thing to execute against such long odds. I've been fortunate enough to work closely with three people that are not replaceable: Andrew Breitbart, Charlie Kirk, and Donald Trump."

A Global Impact in the Fight Against Communism

Kirk's impact extended far beyond American borders. In the last weekend of his life, Charlie traveled to South Korea to support democracy activists there after a contested election where CCP-affiliated interests allegedly gained influence.

"Charlie Kirk was greeted as a cultural phenomenon in Korea," Bannon shared. "He was very sophisticated about the Chinese Communist Party. He was very sophisticated about the infiltration of the Chinese Communist Party in America."

Following his assassination, spontaneous demonstrations erupted in South Korea with young people chanting, "I am Charlie Kirk." His message resonated globally because he understood the existential threat posed by communist ideology.

Ava Chen from the New Federal State of China emphasized this point: "In the interview I shared, Charlie talks about how the Chinese Communist Party is the enemy—the true enemy of the United States, the enemy of freedom, and the enemy of the West. He never wavered when it comes to the topic of the Chinese Communist Party."

Kirk recognized the massive infiltration of educational institutions by CCP influences, something that required tremendous courage to confront. "This is where the battleground is," Chen explained. "A lot of people don't see that universities and educational institutions are battlegrounds, but they are because they are fighting for the future."

The Path to America's Demoralization

The conversation turned to how America reached this critical juncture. Chen referenced the work of a KGB defector who outlined four phases of societal radicalization: demoralization, destabilization, crisis, and normalization.

"America has already finished the first phase of radicalization. It's called demoralization," Chen explained. "Demoralization in simple words basically means taking wrong as right and right as wrong. It inverts your moral judgment."

The demoralization accelerated in the late 1990s when the Clinton administration began granting temporary trade status to China just four years after the Tiananmen Square massacre. "The world did not call it out. The world condoned it," Chen noted. "What they did is they propped them up, giving them the favored nation status."

This began a process of treating a communist regime as a legitimate partner. "As a free society, you gave them that. You started treating them as a partner, which you should never be able to call a communist a partner," Chen emphasized.

Now China has become the second-largest economy, and their goal is clear. "If you're number two, where do you want to go? You want to go to number one. And how are you going to get there? You have to destroy number one."

The Future Way Technology Threat

Chen highlighted a recent development that demonstrates ongoing CCP infiltration. The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent a 12-page letter to Future Way Technology, a U.S. operation of Huawei.

"Future Way is a U.S. operation of Huawei. Huawei is not a normal company—it is a PLA military company. The owner is Xi Jinping and his family, and the second owner is the Chinese military," Chen explained.

Despite being blacklisted by the Trump administration in 2019, Huawei found ways to continue operating in the United States through subsidiaries like Future Way. They have compromised international regulatory bodies establishing internet protocols and communication standards adopted by many countries.

"They have subleased Future Way's workspace in Silicon Valley for multiple years. There are many court cases about how Future Way and Huawei-linked PLA military direct operation companies have conducted espionage, stealing American intellectual information," Chen said.

The TikTok Deception

The conversation turned to TikTok, which Chen described as "digital fentanyl" and "a weapon of the Chinese Communist Party." Despite a pending deal to transfer majority ownership to American entities, Chen remains skeptical.

"A lot of reports are saying the deal has already been made. Oracle and various venture capitalists are going to own 80% of TikTok, while ByteDance's ownership is going down to 20%. Does that solve the problem?" Chen asked.

She pointed to statements on Chinese government websites that suggest they have no intention of relinquishing control. "The CCP is going to use anything in their hand to stall the transfer or sabotage the transfer because that's what the CCP is good at."

"They have no intention of giving up their lethal weapon, which can penetrate and subvert and mess up the minds of 170 million U.S. youth," Chen warned. "Remember, the real goal is to subvert the United States—to change American youth to serve communist ideology."

A Call to Action

The assassination of Charlie Kirk represents more than the loss of a charismatic leader—it signals a deeper crisis in American society. His murder was not a random act but the culmination of systematic radicalization.

"This isn't about Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk's in heaven with God. He's in a much better place. We are still here," Winn stated. "This is such a wake-up call. And if we don't take this for what it is, God and everyone else can't help us."

The focus now must be on continuing Charlie's mission. "What he started, if we don't pick up the mantle, if we don't take what he's done and expand it... Charlie wouldn't want that. It's about honoring God. He wants us to honor the beliefs and the faith and the freedom that we have in this nation. That's what he stood for."

Winn closed the program with a powerful message about the upcoming elections and the importance of voting for candidates who will bring sanity back to government:

"If you've lived in Tucson as long as I have, you'll remember the version of Tucson that was once a beautiful, vibrant vacation destination full of Sonoran culture, chef-quality food, respected nature, and total wellness. Today, the radical left policies imposed upon us have turned Tucson and Pima County into a filthy cesspool ridden with crime, homelessness, and fentanyl zombies."

She urged voters to choose change in the upcoming special election and November contests, warning that the same radical elements celebrating Kirk's assassination are seeking public office.

"The same people who brought you this incompetence are putting disgusting stickers celebrating Charlie Kirk's assassination on Republicans' campaign signs. 'Make Assassination Great Again.' Is that the kind of leader you want representing you?"

As America stands at this critical juncture, the legacy of Charlie Kirk calls us to action—to defend freedom, restore civility, and reject the forces of division and hatred. The question remains: Will we answer that call?